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The Philippines Remind Us What Happens When Leaders Ignore Human Rights
In light of recent events, taking measures to prevent terrorism is clearly an important issue. However, Theresa May’s comments about how she plans to go about combating extremism were nothing short of horrendous. Speaking on the campaign trail, she was quoted as saying the following.
"We need to take on the ideology that unites and motivates the perpetrators of these attacks. We should do even more to restrict the freedom and the movements of terrorist suspects when we have enough evidence to know they present a threat, but not enough evidence to prosecute them in full in court.
And if human rights laws get in the way of doing these things, we will change those laws to make sure we can do them.”
No Theresa, changing human rights laws is not, and never will be, the right way to go. If you have any doubts about that, just look at what’s currently going on in the Philippines.
Since his election last year, Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte has proved to be an increasingly dangerous and unstable man.
He infamously made speeches urging civilians to murder both drug dealers and users, resulting in over seven-thousand deaths. He even compared himself to Hitler when discussing the number of deaths he had personally caused.
This guy seems to have no idea about basic democratic principals and values. This is what happens when heads of state decide to shirk human rights laws, and it ain’t pretty.
In addition to ordering the public to commit mass genocide, Duterte recently said that he gives his soldiers permission to commit rape. Speaking to soldiers on Mindanao island, where martial law has been declared due to a conflict with ISIS-linked extremists, Duterte was quoted as saying:
“If you had raped three, I will admit it, that’s on me.”
It should be reiterated that this guy is a head of state and not some third rate comedian. The world would be a much better place without people like Duterte being in power.
Theresa May should look to his leadership to see why her suggestion of changing human rights laws is a horrid idea. If you truly wants to fight terrorism, the number one step on her list should be to stop arming Saudi Arabia, although that seems unlikely based on history.
